By the end of the week, Republicans throughout the Philadelphia region were shaking their heads at how a guarded former prosecutor had allowed alleged harassment, a secret legal settlement, and his own statements to implode his congressional career.

What will actually happen at the congress, and what Xi will say in his state-of-the-party address at its opening, are closely guarded secrets, even as the party and state media have flagged the broad outlines of what will happen.

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